Cory Morse | MLive.comA woman who identified herself only as 'Sarah' protests with Move to Amend and Occupy Grand Rapids in front of the Gerald R. Ford Federal Building last winter. 'The government and legal system are very corrupt,' she said.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A petition drive to make amending the U.S. Constitution a topic for city voters this fall apparently has failed. Move to Amend – Grand Rapids now wants City Commission to vote its proposal onto the November ballot.

The proposal would ask city voters to affirm that they want to amend the Constitution so it clearly states that U.S. political rights apply only to human beings, not corporations, and that “the spending of money to influence elections is not to be construed as speech under the First Amendment.”

It also would “urgently instruct our elected officials in state and federal office” to amend the Constitution.

“We need to reset a proper balance of political power in favor of real people,” Janet Shelby, the group’s secretary, wrote to City Commission in a letter to be accepted into the public record Tuesday. “After all, in a democracy, the acts of our elected officials are ultimately our responsibility.”

City Commission could choose to put the proposal before voters. But city voters already face what Mayor George Heartwell called a “bedsheet ballot” because it will have so many items on it. City Commission last month voted to add a city charter amendment to the mix, asking voters to make the city comptroller an appointed position rather than an elected one.